Zero Dark Thirty 'Unofficial' Ban in Pakistan Prior to Oscars: Pakistani Critics Bash 'Operation Osama Bin Laden' Film 'Embarrassing'

"Zero Dark Thirty," the historical drama film that dramatizes the U.S. military operation that found and killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, is causing quite the Oscar buzz in the States. But across seas in Pakistan (were the movie is not even officially released) there is already an "unofficial" ban on its sale and distribution. According to several Pakistani film and entertainment critics, "Zero Dark Thirty" is a complete embarrassment that wrongly depicts everyday life in Pakistan. With reviews that blare titles like "Very Zero, Very Dark" and "Zero IQ Thirty," Mohsin Yaseen (general manager of the largest movie theater chain in Pakistan) said he had no intention of purchasing the American blockbuster for his cinemas. And several other hotshots in the Pakistani entertainment bizz agree.

NBC News reports that "Zero Dark Thirty" has yet to be officially released in Pakistan - therefore, Pakistani government censors are not yet able to officially respond to Kathryn Bigelow's controversial depiction of Pakistan. But the film has managed to leak into the Islamic Republic, and it's stirring a pretty big backlash.

As Dawn newspaper columnist Nadeem Farooq Paracha puts it - "Though sharp in its production and direction and largely accurate in depicting the events that led to the death of Osama Bin Laden. It went ballistic bad in depicting everyday life on the streets of Pakistan." Paracha continues with his scathing review, insisting that "the movie may be designed to embarrass Pakistan, its people, its military and even its distinct culture.  Or it might be simply a victim of sloppy research." Here are just some of the annoying goofs that Paracha explains infiltrates "Zero Dark Thirty" -

- Pakistani people sound like an "Indianized" Arabic speakers (in real life, that's not the case).

- Pakistanis are portrayed eating a lot of hummus (most individuals in the nation do not).

- One character in the movie claims that "nobody in Pakistan drives SUVs" (Pakistanis love their sports utility vehicles).

Several Pakistanis involved in the entertainment distribution industry refuse to purchase the film from international distributors:

"As a local distributor, there was no financial viability for me. The film was already widely available in the [pirated] DVD market," said Mohsin Yaseen, general manager of Cinepax, the largest multiplex chain in Pakistan . "But as a film buff, the movie was inaccurate about Pakistan. If you're going to say something about a complicated part of the world, then you should say it right."

Meanwhile, other film enthusiasts in Pakistan attempt to downplay all the hype and backlash surrounding "Zero Dark Thirty" -

"This whole 'ban, ban, ban' bit is a scam. It's an assumption and just pure hype that's perfectly timed for Oscar season," Nadeem Mandviwalla, chief executive of Mandviwalla Entertainment, said. "There is no politics [regarding screening "Zero Dark Thirty"]. There are tons of movies that don't make it here. It's not a political decision the army or the ISI [Pakistan's intelligence agency] makes for us. We, as businessmen, make it. And it was bad business modeling to bring this movie to Pakistan." Mandviwalla has been buying and distributing Hollywood blockbusters in Pakistan for the past three decades.

Still, it looks like the unofficial Pakistani ban of "Zero Dark Thirty" is expanding. The film was widely available in Islamabad stores until mid-January... but not so much anymore:

"We were asked to stop selling the movie by some guys a couple of weeks after we started stocking it," said an attendant at Illusions, a popular movie and music retailer in Islamabad's upscale Jinnah Super arcade, reports NBC. "There were four of them. Two stood outside, as if on guard, and two came inside and told us that 'Zero Dark Thirty' was banned," said the man who asked not to be named because for his own security. "They said they were from Aabpara [the local neighborhood that headquarters the ISI]. They asked us to send the DVDs back to the warehouse, and they took a few discs back for themselves... They were very polite."